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An estimated 600,000 people packed the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, wearing pink hats and carrying signs protesting policies of the Trump administration. The march represented a wide range of issues, from immigration, and the environment, to worker and disability rights according to the Woman's March website.
Two priorities marked this year's march: voter mobilization and the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. Celebrities like Viola Davis, Natalie Portman, and Scarlett Johansson spoke at Pershing Square, each telling their own personal story on why they are bringing attention to the abuses inherent in their industry.
Portman spoke about being sexually harassed while starting out in Hollywood, and how she felt the need to cover her body and create a 'bookishness' public persona to avoid unwanted comments about her body.
“I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe, and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body, to my great discomfort," Portman told rally-goers on Saturday.
Davis pointed to history, delivering a pointed testimony about surviving her own abuse. ”I am speaking today not just for the Me Toos, because I was a Me Too; but when I raise my hand, I am aware of all the women who are still in silence."
Voter mobilization was also a priority for protesters at the march. This year's mantra "Power to the polls," is meant to encourage American voters to vote in the 2018 midterm election as a record-breaking amount of women have filed to run for political office.